Healthy Weight Center

Any Research on African American Women?

Question:

Has any research been done in the area of African American women and diet and exercise, specifically?

1) Do African Americans over cook their vegetables? If so, is this practice unhealthy?

2) Do African Americans women exercise to little?

3) Do African Americans want their children to exercise?

4) Do African Americans see dance as a form of exercise?

Answer:

This is a very interesting question. I did a literature search using PubMed and found many references to weight loss and exercise in the female African American population as well as in children. Dance was only addressed in one article specifically.

I was unable to locate any research on vegetable preparation. I can tell you that overcooking (such as in boiling or frying) vegetables will destroy many vitamins contained in them and would, therefore, make them less nutritious. Frying vegetables will add extra calories to an otherwise low calorie food, which could contribute to weight gain.

All of your questions seem to be wonderful research project topics. I suggest that you explore the search engine “PubMed” for more specifics. I have listed a some of the references I found that may be of interest to you. I hope this is helpful to you.

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